Charlie Hunnam Calls Lizzie Borden’s Alleged Murders ‘Understandable’ Compared to Ed Gein

Actor Charlie Hunnam, who starred as serial killer Ed Gein in the 2000 film “Gacy,” has said that Lizzie Borden’s alleged murders of her parents in 1892 would be “a much more understandable crime of passion.” Speaking to promote his new role as Andrew Borden in the upcoming Netflix anthology series Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, Hunnam made the comments.

Actor Charlie Hunnam said if Lizzie Borden killed her parents in the 1892 murders, it was an “understandable crime of passion” given the oppressive nature of the household. He compared it to his former role as Ed Gein, who he said entered “prolonged, devious depravity”.

In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Hunnam was asked to compare his experiences playing two infamous figures in Ryan Murphy’s Monster anthology. He clearly distinguished between the charges against Borden and the crimes Gein actually committed.

“I think they’re very different characters,” said Hunnam. “Ed Gein was a very sick individual who had a long history of very devious depravity. “Really terrible things that he was doing.

“When you’re talking about Lizzie Borden, you have to remember this is not proven,” Hunnam said. “It’s not proven, and you have to consider the environment she was in. “Whereas Lizzie, although she did commit this crime, it was never proved. He noted, “The court cleared her, although all of the evidence does point to the fact that she was probably responsible. But if she was guilty, he said, it was a much more understandable crime of passion.”

“I mean, Borden was living in such an oppressive household with a father who was completely inaccessible and ruled in this cold, iron-fisted, miserly way, and a stepmother who was miserable and resented her,” Hunnam explained. He said documented tensions over money and familial relationships reached a breaking point for a “seemingly very innocent, very gentle girl.”

On August 4, 1892, Andrew Borden and his second wife, Abby Borden, were hatchet-murdered in their home in Fall River, Massachusetts. When the authorities grew suspicious of the changing stories of where Lizzie Borden, Andrew’s daughter from his first marriage, had been that morning, she was arrested and charged with the murders.

The trial that followed, in the summer of 1893, was a national sensation. The defense argued successfully that the circumstantial evidence was not sufficient to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. On June 20, 1893, a jury of 12 men found Lizzie Borden not guilty. No other suspect was ever charged, and the case remains officially unsolved.

Hunnam’s comments reflect a conscious creative decision by the production to question the psychological environment of the Borden home. Hunnam is the murder victim Andrew Borden, but said it was hard to research the historical figure because there are no definitive records.

“There was almost nothing [to research],” Hunnam told Entertainment Weekly of his research into Andrew Borden. “He was really sort of a recluse, an anti-social person… nobody really knew much about him.” This lack of historical record gave actors and creators license to speculate about the household dynamics that may have led to the tragedy.

This distinction matters because it shows how modern true crime adaptations navigate the moral framing of historical allegations. Hunnam’s coupling of a possible “crime of passion” with a known case of “devious depravity” echoes larger cultural conversations about motive, environment, and the presumption of innocence in unsolved cases of history. And it highlights the continued public fascination with how streaming services are reimagining notorious century-old mysteries.

Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story premieres on Netflix, with Ryan Murphy’s dramatized version of the events. Series regulars include Ella Beatty as Lizzie Borden, with Charlie Hunnam, Vicky Krieps, Rebecca Hall, Billie Lourd, and Jessica Barden. The show is expected to explore a few theories about the murders, including the possibility of other killers.